Spectroscopic Methods for Subwavelength Atom Localization

Sajid Qamar, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

Kishore T. Kapale

M. Al-Amri, Shuai Yang, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

Mauro Paternostro, Jared A. Miles, Zach J. Simmons +1 more

Anton E. Afanasiev, Павел Николаевич Мелентьев, A. A. Kuzin +2 more

The localization and transport of a photon through a subwavelength hole with the help of a neutral atom are studied. A method proposed and realized in the study is based on the absorption of a photon by a neutral atom directly in front of a subwavelength hole, the flight of the atom through the hole, and photon emission on the other side of the screen. The influence of the interaction of the excited atom flying through the subwavelength channel with the screen material is estimated. The estimate showed that the atomic excitation can be quenched in holes with diameters smaller than 200 nm, which affects the photon transport efficiency.

Zeyang Liao, M. Al-Amri, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

We evaluate the resonance-fluorescence spectrum of a bunch of two-level atoms driven by a gradient coherent laser field. The result shows that we can determine the positions of atoms from the spectrum even when the atoms locate within the subwavelength range and the dipole-dipole interaction is significant. This far-field resonance-fluorescence-localization microscopy method does not require point-by-point scanning, and it may be more time efficient. We also give a possible scheme to extract the position information in an extended region without requiring more peak power of the laser. Finally, we also briefly discuss how to perform two-dimensional imaging based on our scheme.